Radical Ritual, my review

[gridlore]

Radical Ritual: How Burning Man Changed the World by Neil Shister

My rating: 5 of 5 stars


This was supposed to be the book I took to Burning Man this year, but, well. . .

What we have here is a fascinating account not of how Burning Man started and grew; that's a tale that has been told many times. Instead, it's about how the vision for what Burning Man could be changed from the early days of Baker Beach, the Cacophony Society, and Zone Trip 4 through the disaster of the 1996 Burn to today.

We meet the Funders and the people who came in at different times and see how the event has come to affect art, civic planning, even disaster relief, and renewable energy strategies. It is told in a very personable way by Mr. Shister, who merrily jumps around in space and time to weave the tapestry that is not just what happens in Black Rock City, but what happens at regional events around the world and in meeting rooms and conferences.

The book ends with Larry Harvey's death and his memorial service. While Larry may have started this flaming ball rolling, it has grown to be a force that is changing the world.

Highly recommended for any Burner, plus anyone interested in how social trends are shaped.



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Comments

[kevin_standlee]

We brought up Burning Man in a discussion at a party at NASFiC about how Worldcon discourages people from being only spectators, albeit not a much as Burning Man does. At least one person said, "But Burning Man is much bigger," and apparently didn't realize that Burning Man hasn't always been so huge or out in the desert like that. They assumed that it started out the way it is now and always has been that way.

If Worldcon put down roots instead of moving from place to place, including being run by a new group every year, it would have by now grown to at a pop-culture festival the size of ComicCon International San Diego, I reckon, while losing track of everything that made it a convention I always want to attend, no matter where it is held. (Places like China and Saudi Arabia, though, do make me nervous.)